2018 Wisconsin Poetry Out Loud Award Winner

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Myles Walker wins 2018 Wisconsin Poetry Out Loud State Finals

Myles Walker, a junior at Golda Meier School in Milwaukee, was named Wisconsin’s 2018 Poetry Out Loud state champion. At the state recitation finals on March 10, held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mr. Walker won the championship and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington DC in April for himself and a chaperone in order to participate in the National Poetry Out Loud Competition. He also won $200.00 for himself and $500.00 for his school. Mr. Walker was coached by his teacher Katharine Katter.

Wisconsin’s 2018 State Competition featured strong competitors. Daeja Loew, sophomore, Altoona High School, won second place at the Wisconsin Poetry Out Loud competition, with third place going to Emily Juhlin, Junior, La Follette High Schools. The other state finalists included: Adamah Bah, Senior Lafollette High School; Ky Collins-Krueger, Junior, Ripon High School; Abby Fuchs, Junior, Brookfield Central High School; Logan Hanaway, Senior, Wrightstown High School; Brendin Larsen, Durand High School; Rahul Mullick, Sophmore, University School of Milwaukee; Devin Reeves, Junior, Holmen High School; and Sammie Zuberbier, Sophmore, Wrightstown High School.

David Daniel, core company member and Education Director at American Players Theatre, emceed the Wisconsin Poetry Out Loud State Contest. The three-round contest was judged by: Bruce Dethlefsen, former Wisconsin Poet Laureate from Westfield; Araceli Esparza, Latinx Poeta and MFA graduate from Hamline University; and Andrea Musher, former Madison Poet Laureate. Jacki Martindale coordinated Wisconsin’s Poetry Out Loud on behalf of the Wisconsin Arts Board.

The Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The Contest is administered in partnership with State Arts Agencies like the Wisconsin Arts Board. Poetry Out Loud offers more than $100,000 in prizes and school stipends nationally each year. It provides free teacher resources and a comprehensive website with a large anthology of classic and contemporary poems, audio and video clips, as well as complete contest information.

Since its establishment, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach nearly 3.5 million students and 50,000 teachers from 10,000 schools across the country. For more information see www.poetryoutloud.org, the National Endowment for the Arts, or the Wisconsin Arts Board’s website.

The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency which nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage. Since 1973, the Arts Board has supported artists and arts organizations with funds from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on the Wisconsin Arts Board, please visit www.artsboard.wisconsin.gov. ​